Launch services resume in Chitrakonda as Maoists call for a bandh on Sept 3

As launch services in the water-locked areas of Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district, paralysed since August 20, resumed on Saturday, Maoists have called for a district-wide bandh on September 3 to protest the recent killing of top Maoist leader Madhav by the security forces.

In two separate press releases issued by the Malkangiri Divisional Committee and the Chitrakonda Area Committee, the outlawed CPI-Maoist claimed that the launch services in the cut-off area were stopped not by them but by the local people who face daily harassment at the hands of the security forces.

Local reports said the motor launch that carried essential items and passengers from the Chitrakonda jetty to Andrapalli panchayat on Saturday came as a great relief to the people in the cut-off areas.

A delegation of peoples’ representatives from the cut-off area had met with chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday seeking his intervention for resumption of launch services as early as possible.

Normal life in the cut-off area had been very badly hit following the suspension of launch services since August 20, apparently under the threat of Maoists.